First Major Bare-Knuckle Boxing Event in 130 Years Gets Bloody

Promoter David Feldman, center, prepares for a news conference for a bare-knuckle boxing event at the Cheyenne Ice and Events Center in Wyoming (AP Photo/Bob Moen)

(Newser)
–
In what is being called a first since 1889, a large-scale, government sanctioned bare-knuckle boxing event took place in Wyoming on Saturday night and things got bloody. Per USA Today, a sold out crowd of 2,000 people in Cheyenne watched as 10 bouts played out before them with fighters protected only by a little gauze around the palm. An even larger audience likely tuned in via pay-per-view to see the fights, including four heavyweight bouts. Fighters came from several backgrounds including boxing, UFC and MMA. The quickest knockout occurred when Sam Shewmaker used one punch to send Eric Prindle to the canvas 18 seconds into their heavyweight bout. "It felt like hitting a home run," Shewmaker told the AP., a fourth-generation stone mason from the tiny central Missouri town of Gravois Mills. "I didn't think I would be able to catch him that early, but luckily I did."

In the only female fight of the night, 29-year-old Bec Rawlings from Brisbane, Australia stopped Alma Garcia with a TKO in the second round. Rawlings and her fellow combatants were all eager to become the first to take off the gloves for a large-scale event since July 8, 1889, when John L. Sullivan went 75 rounds to beat Jake Kilrain. Even that event was illegal and had to be staged under the cover of secrecy as most states had outlawed the non-gloved version of boxing. Fighting was forced underground until 2011, when a Yavapai Nation sanctioned a match that drew more than a million viewers. The promoter of that event and Saturday's, David Feldman, realized there was a hungry market for bare-knuckle fights. Wyoming has since become the first state to sanction and regulate the sport. (Read more Wyoming stories.)

Your article refers to BK Fighting Championship's June 2, 2018 bout as being the first 'LEGAL' Bare Knuckle Boxing (BKB) event held in the US since 1889. THIS SIMPLY IS NOT TRUE. Corey Williams' Bare Knuckle Boxing events have been held in Wyoming with the acknowledgement of the WY MMA Commission and a visible police presence for over a decade. Use of the term 'legal' in relation to the June 2nd event is injurious to Mr. Williams' personal and business reputation. Mr. Williams has filed suit against David Feldman for multiple offenses of libel, slander, intellectual property theft, tortious interference, etc. for making this grossly inaccurate claim. Please be advised that claims made by David Feldman about his role in the sanctioning of BKB are blatantly fraudulent. Corey Williams is the man who did all of the work, i.e., the medical experimentation to prove BKB is no more dangerous than gloved boxing at his own personal expense. Mr. Williams has filed suit against lying con-artist Dave Feldman for several reasons: 1. Corey Williams owns the trademark David Feldman is used on his posters without permission, 2. Corey Williams owns the trademark on "bareknucklefc" which is is short for "bare knuckle fight club", and Feldman decided to start using that in his social media address, another trademark violation, 3. Feldman refers to Mr. Williams' medical research in the media without crediting the source of his statistics proving BKB is no more injurious than gloved boxing. Feldman has also claimed to have been turned down by 28 states in his quest for legal BKB, yet no news outlet has requested any documentation to substantiate that claim. Fraudulent Feldman is flat out crediting himself with Corey Williams' accomplishments and attempting to monopolize the sport and phase Corey Williams' established business out of the arena. Feldman's fraudulent claims are injurous to Corey Willams' personal and business reputation. When media outlets print Feldman's lies, they are complicit in an outright theft.